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Sept. 24, 2010 - Jimmy Dore Show
58:55
20100924_Jimmy_Dore_Thu_September_23_2010
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Yes, this is Christopher Hitchens.
I would be remiss if we were not to express a certain gratitude to Jimmy Dore for inviting me on his program, though I believe he does present an evil more pernicious than that of Mother Teresa.
All the celebrity voices at the Jimmy Dore Show are performed by other celebrities.
It's the Jimmy Door Show.
The show for...
Up-minded, lowly-livered lefties.
The kind of people that are...
It's the show that makes Anderson Cooper say It's hard to talk on your T-Baggy.
So sit back or sit up or keep driving.
Because it's the Jimmy Dore show.
And now, here's a guy who sounds a lot like me.
It's Jimmy Dore.
Hi, everybody, and welcome to the Jimmy Doer Show.
Sitting in the studio with me today, as always, Ben Zelovansky, Paul Gil Martin, and Robert Yasimura is here.
And what's coming up on today's show?
I'm going to let you know.
Here's our billboard segment.
Why don't we let you know what's coming up on today's show?
Because people love to know what's coming up.
So you're saying no to the national media.
I'm not going to do any more national media because this is my focus.
Delaware is my focus, and the local media is my focus.
That's the Republican nominee for Senate from Delaware, Christine O'Donnell.
She went on Sean Hannity's national television show to let people know she's not going on national television shows.
Okay, Christine.
So I guess you're going to be talking a ton with the local media.
You let them know they're your priority, did you?
I've let the local media know they're my priority, but our phones are ringing off the hook that they can't get to me.
Oh, boy, don't you hate when that happens, Christine?
Your phones are so busy, the local media can't even get through.
But you sure you won't go on a national show like Sean Hannity's or something?
It's off the table because that's not going to help me get votes.
We'll investigate more contradictions from Christine coming up on today's show.
Plus, say hello to our favorite candidate running for Star County Treasurer.
My name is Phil Davidson, and I am seeking our party's nomination for the position of Star Camping Treasure.
Okay, you sound a little fired up there, Phil.
How long have you been a Republican?
I have been a Republican in Jones Glenn, and I have been a Republican and Miss Glen Spaniard!
You see, Matinsi bit crazy, Phil.
Can you apologize for your tone?
At least you're scaring people.
I apologize for my tone tonight.
Plus, very excited.
We have an interview today.
The author of the new book called Common Nonsense about Glenn Beck and his mentalness.
It's Alexander Zaitchik is on the show.
Today we're going to interview him coming up on the second half, along with the commentary from Jim Hightower.
And we try to find out why the Democrats are such sucky politicians.
That's this week on the Jimmy Dore show.
I forgot to mention we have a Tuesdays with Moron coming up later on after the interview.
So stick around for Tuesdays with Moron.
And, you know, we normally do a recorded piece at the top of the show, but, you know, Barack Obama had a town hall meeting on Monday, which I was lucky enough to wake up in time to see.
So, Barack Obama, but you know, the thing, I don't know if you guys remember that in Kenya.
Do you remember when George Bush would go on his tours around the country and they would have these hand-picked audiences?
And it's people who just show up to kiss his ass.
And thank you for taking my question.
And I'm so, thank God you're my president.
And Barack Obama did the same thing.
So he has this hand-picked audience.
He goes in.
And then this lady, right in his wheelhouse, goes up.
And here she has a question.
I am a chief financial officer for a veteran service organization, Ambets here in Washington.
I'm also a mother.
I'm a wife.
I'm an American veteran.
And I'm one of your middle-class Americans.
Oh, you know, again, another just another hand-picked ass kisser.
Right down the middle.
Oh, how boring.
What do you have to say?
Go ahead.
And quite frankly, I'm exhausted.
I'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the mantle of change that I voted for, and deeply disappointed with where we are right now.
Do I really even need to play anymore?
I mean, I should get to it.
Oh, my God.
Yeah, yeah, you're great.
You're great.
You're great.
I've been told that I voted for a man who said he was going to change things in a meaningful way for the middle class.
I'm one of those people, and I'm waiting, sir.
I'm waiting.
I don't feel it yet.
And I thought, well, it wouldn't be in great measure.
I would feel it in some small measure.
I have two children in private school, and the financial recession has taken an enormous toll on my family.
My husband and I have joked for years that we thought we were well beyond the hot dogs and beans era of our lives.
But quite frankly, it's starting to knock on our door and ring true that that might be where we're headed again.
Oh, the sycophantist obsequious bullshit.
I am sick of this.
And quite frankly, Mr. President, I need you to answer this honestly.
Is this my new reality?
Okay, so nothing gets done there.
Now, I would disagree with you there.
It started off seeming like she was just a sycophant who had been hand-picked, but what she's basically saying is, where's the change?
What?
What?
You think that's what she's saying?
Yeah.
I don't get that.
But that's what I got out of it.
But didn't you stop the clip right before she said?
And a follow-up.
Why are you so awesome?
Yes.
Well, you know what?
People, this is what happens because the Democrats are horrible politicians.
The guy can't...
If there was ever a person who's supposed to be on board for Barack Obama, it is definitely this lady, right?
And he has let her down, and he has no answers for her except to go, you know, I'm kind of maintaining the status quo.
Aren't you enjoying that?
Doesn't that get you?
Now, They can't, their two biggest bills, their stimulus bill, right, and their health care bill, they can't run on the health care bill.
And why can't they run on either of those bills?
Well, let's get an analysis.
Yeah, the strategy of no worked in the sense that it kept the stimulus too small, made it impossible to have a second stimulus.
But the president forced him to build a health care bill entirely on the left.
Right.
Well, and it's kind of actually a Romney care bill.
It's kind of the bill that Romney and Ted Kennedy negotiated in Massachusetts.
That voice sounded tan.
Was that John Boehner?
No, that was not John Boehner.
No, no.
That was a guy.
Anyway.
That was Chris Matthews, though, right?
That was Chris Matthews.
Did you hear him missing the point in there?
He's saying, yeah, they screwed up that health care bill.
They built it too much on the left.
Yeah, yes.
No, that's not what happened.
It's the Romney care.
So the Democrats got out-politik.
What happened was their stimulus bill got so screwed up because Barack Obama tried to compromise.
He wanted to be a bipartisan guy.
He wanted to get Republican support and votes for his stimulus bill.
He wanted to get Republican votes and support for his health care bill.
And what they did was they watered down both of those bills until they were not as effective as they should be.
And we ended up getting the Republican health care bill.
Which Republicans refused to vote for?
Right.
They wouldn't even vote for at that time.
Well, because they were getting what they wanted anyway, and now they could still be seen as not being with Barack Obama.
But the fatal flaw in Barack Obama and the Democrats is they've been running away from FDR since FDR, right?
And Barack Obama wants to be this bipartisan guy.
And I've said this on the show a million times.
Instead of reading FDR, he read Lincoln, and he's trying to be this guy who brings people together, which is not what we need right now.
We needed that in the 90s when we had good economic times.
Right now, we need somebody who can delineate a true enemy and have a focused path of where he wants to take us.
He needs to have a program.
He shows up.
He doesn't even program that he's even trying to sell to this one.
At least George Bush was going across trying to sell war and privatizing Social Security and tax cuts for the Ritz.
You knew where he stood.
Barack Obama, nobody even knows what he's trying to do.
You don't even know what he's trying to do anymore.
But he still continues to try to work bipartisanly.
And here is the problem with trying to work bipartisanly with Republicans because they see bipartisanship a little differently.
Democrats see bipartisanship as they give up a little bit of something they want in order to compromise.
And here's how Republicans see it.
To us, bipartisanship is them being forced to agree with us after we have politically cleaned their clocks and beaten them.
And that has to be what we're focused on.
So when I, when he first said that, now he said that in February of 2009, like the month after Barack Obama was sworn in.
And I was like, what?
How are you going to clean their?
They just cleaned your clock.
What are you talking about?
You guys have been wiped out.
Now here comes Barack Obama and the progressive agenda and son of a, if they didn't politically clean the Democrats' clock.
They won the debate on the stimulus before it ever got out of the house.
They won the debate on the health care before it even came up for a vote, before they even had a town hall meeting about it.
The Democrats got caught totally flat-footed.
Paul, a guy who plays a fake Republican, do you see this ever getting any better?
I don't know.
I don't.
The problem is that the Republicans, the way they fight is different.
They fight unethically, but they win.
Yes.
So do you want to play that game?
Do you want to throw ethics out the window to win?
That's basically what the Democrats – Whatever you think about their principles, they stick to them.
The Republicans, but the problem with the Democrats is, you know, we like to think that they're incredibly progressive, but when it really comes down to a vote, they're as beholden to corporate America as the Republicans, maybe about 75% as much as the Republicans are.
And nothing is ever going to get done in this country until corporations stop dictating what policy is.
But I would argue that that's a result of the Republican pull to the right, that that's consistently gone on for the last 40 years, that Democrats have watered themselves down just in order to play on the same field.
But the Democrats can't run a campaign without corporate money.
So how do you compete without being a bad person?
But you know, a lot of Democratic candidates get the equal amount of money from the corporations because the corporations want to hedge their bets.
So I don't know that that's necessarily true.
I mean, it is in general, I mean, there shouldn't be corporate money in financing elections, but I don't know that that's necessarily true in terms of, you know, if you're the Democratic candidate, no matter how far left you are, you're going to get the same amount of corporate money as the Republican candidate for the most part.
Right.
I don't know if that's true.
You think Dennis Kucinich gets the same money that John Boehner gets?
No, I think Dennis Kucinich is the exception.
But there are people, but that's the thing.
Every Democrat doesn't get the same money that every Republican does.
more right-leaning the Democrat is, the better they're going to do in the sweepstakes.
Like, there's...
They're like sort of weak carbon copies of the Republicans.
Like, there's two - there's your sort of conservative Democrats, and then there's the whole right wing.
And there's almost nobody balancing out the other side.
Right.
No, I was.
Because there's no money in it.
Like, there's no money and actually representing citizens of this country.
You're telling me there's no money in public radio?
Is that what you're trying to tell me?
There's no money in being on the left?
Wait.
There's no money in being on the left.
That reminds me.
I have to talk to you about something.
But the thing is, is that that's not entirely true.
It depends where you are.
I mean, like, if you're if you're in L.A. or in San Francisco, you can get bankrolled pretty good.
You know what?
I mean, there's no better example of how badly the Democrats politic.
I don't know if that's a correct word to use there, but they politic horribly.
And when you're a politician and you're bad at the politics, that's going to hurt you.
It's like being an Olympic swimmer who's not good in the pool.
It's like I'm good in the shower like a befer.
Oh, I'm not.
I get the suit right on.
Oh, boy.
You see me towel off.
You see me go up that ladder?
Huh?
That was by myself.
I did it by myself.
So, yeah, so that's the Democrats are bad at, and all they can do is whine.
Here's Chris Matthews whining about what happened to Barack Obama.
By the way, if they were better at the politics, they'd be bankrolled better.
They'd have a better country.
Well, the corporations would go, well, I'm going to back the winner.
I'm going to back the person who's going to end up in authority.
So if they were better at the politics, there's a good fix.
I disagree with that because there are certain corporations that know that the left is going to fight their policies and is not going to back whoever they think is going to be a winner.
Also, they don't need to back the winner because the Republicans didn't win a thing this time out and they're still controlling the debate.
Yes, yes, and they're still enough people winning.
They just need enough people to, you know, like filibustering or the don't ask so later.
So here's, let me quit play Chris Matthews complaining.
Politics is unfair.
We all know that sometimes.
But it seems to be particularly unfair.
There are a bunch of guys who sat on the bench and all they did is hoot and cat call for the last two years and say no and screw this guy's program up as much as they could in this seesaw politics.
If he goes down, we go up.
I mean, that's all they got, Bader and Mitch McConnell.
And that's all I've done.
I would agree with him.
And that's all they need.
And it turns out that's all they need to beat you guys.
Yes, because the average American doesn't really read the paper enough.
You know what?
You know what?
That is true.
And I am one of them.
That is true.
I am one of them.
I'm bored by the minutiae of this went on to this vote and this person did this and that person did that.
You know, but I think the bigger problem is, Paul, you're correct.
Most people are too busy living their lives to have time to get informed.
And that's why we're here.
People that work for a living.
Yeah, people who work for LA.
That's the same thing.
Wait, is that why it's a republic?
Is that why we hire people who are actually good at this stuff?
But the problem is, how come they can get their message through, but the Democrats can't get their message through?
You know, FDR got his message through.
You know why?
Because he wasn't afraid of his message.
And what we need is to have a guy who's not afraid of these guys.
Like Barack Obama, to get to the top of Wall Street or to get to the Harvard law review, he had to learn how to get along with those guys because he wasn't from that world.
FDR didn't have To learn how to get along with those guys, those guys had to learn how to get along with him because he grew up that way.
He was already a big shit, you know what I mean?
He came from royalty, so he wasn't afraid of those guys.
He never had to try to make friends with those guys.
Those guys had to try to make friends with him.
Here we are with it.
It's a perfect example.
This tax debate, this tax debate, right?
So the Democrats can't even find a way to give a tax cut to their base, working people, without somehow also being hoodwinked and arm twisted into giving a tax cut for the richest people who've ever lived on the planet.
And that will also balloon the deficit, okay?
So, and so, and why is that?
Now, why is that?
The GOP members of Congress have managed to confuse the issue so much that middle-class Americans have been deceived into believing they get burned unless the upper classes get to hoard more of their treasure.
We have politically cleaned their clocks and beaten them.
Exactly.
I can't believe that people are still trying to sell trickle-down economics.
Like, is there any more basic thing about saying, look, we've got this money to spread around.
We can give it right to you and you can have it.
Or we can let somebody else hold it for a while and then you get it.
Yeah.
And the second one, that's better.
Yes.
Well, that's.
Let's let someone else have it.
We're all going to get to drink beer.
You're just going to drink it after it goes through my kidney.
You know, that's the thing.
You know, you hear supply-side economics.
We all know what that is.
Trickle-down economics.
We all know what that is.
You never hear demand-side economics.
You never hear that coming out of Barack Obama's mouth.
You never hear that coming out of Nancy Pelosi's mouth.
Demand-side, that's what FDR did.
He put money in the people's pockets, and that created a demand for products in the economy.
You know what we it drives me?
It's to the point where they're so bad at politics that somebody like Keith Olberman has to say something like this.
Why on earth do you start every negotiation just barely left of center?
Anybody on this planet haggling always asks for far more than they expect to ultimately get.
Started single payer, and maybe you get public options, started indictments for torture, and maybe you get a truth and reconciliation commission.
We have politically cleaned their clocks and beaten them.
You know what?
I was watching 60 Minutes, just to drive this point home a little harder to make you feel even worse about how bad Democrats are at politics.
And, you know, the worst president, I guess, of our generation, just out of hand, Jimmy Carter.
Everybody says Jimmy Carr.
Ineffective.
Ineffective.
Probably the most honest president we've had in a while.
But ineffective, right?
Horrible.
Just a horrible, ineffective president, right?
Well, I'm watching 60 Minutes, and Leslie Stahl says this.
He actually had a long list of successes, starting with bringing all the hostages home alive.
He normalized relations with China, brokered a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, deregulated railroads, trucking, airlines, and telephones.
And his energy conservation programs resulted in a 50% cut in imported oil down to just 4.3 million barrels a day.
Many will be surprised to hear this.
Jimmy Carter got more of his programs passed than Reagan and Nixon, Ford, Bush 1, Clinton, or Bush 2.
Why is it that we don't know about that?
We have politically cleaned their clocks and beaten them.
That's right.
The Democrats can't even.
I mean, Jimmy Carter has accomplishments, and they just conceded that he's the worst president ever.
Nobody even knows about his.
But we have to move on.
Wasn't Reagan credited with bringing the hostages home?
Yes, he was.
By Reagan.
No, actually, Iran had something to do with that because they specifically waited until they were inauguration.
Yeah.
And they waited to do it.
And also, I mean, Reagan also reversed a lot of those policies the moment he walked in, like all the energy solar panels.
So he walked in.
He's like, nope, screw that.
Yeah, we don't need solar power.
Oil is going to work.
Yeah, and I'm going down to New Orleans.
All right, we have to move on.
We only have an hour, and we have a guest to get to.
I want to talk about, we're going to take a kind of a hard shift here and talk about the Star County Treasurer's race.
Oh, Davidson, Phil Davidson.
Now, here, if you haven't heard this, this went viral about a week ago.
And it's probably the craziest political speech we've heard.
This guy is trying to get the Republican nomination in Star County.
I don't even know where I didn't even look it up.
Where's the county?
I don't know, but apparently to him, it's very important.
It's Star County.
So this is a three-minute speech.
We're going to go ahead and play the whole thing.
Okay, here we go.
Ladies and gentlemen of the Star County Republican Party Executive Committee, good evening.
And thank you not only for your attendance, but for allowing me the opportunity to speak.
My name is Phil Davidson, and I am seeking our party's nomination for the position of Stark County Treasurer on November 10th, November of 2010.
Excuse me.
In terms of my background, I am from the village of Minerva, where I'm serving my 13th year of elected service as a Minerva Council member.
I just want to, I know you guys can see this because this is the radio.
But when he says, I've been 13 years, he's holding up fingers to indicate 13.
But I don't know how you make 13 out of your hands.
But in fairness, you can't see his feet.
Yeah, so we don't know if he's fully shooted.
I had often wanted, I'm glad that I finally got to witness somebody like this because I'd often wondered, what if Mel Gibson had turned his anger inward?
All right, let's get back.
In terms of education, I have a bachelor's degree in sociology, a bachelor's degree in history, a master's degree in public administration, and a master's degree in communication.
In terms of elections across Stark County, I have represented our party twice on the county ballot in both the primary and in the general elections.
But I ran for Star County Clerk of Courts in 1996 and Stark County Commissioner in 2000.
And I will not apologize for my toad tonight.
It's as if on his way to the speech, he was in traffic, and every car that passed him said, rolled their window down and sneered at him and said, you'll never be anything in Stark County.
It is, right?
Where did this rage?
It is wound.
You talk about wound up.
I think he's been pacing since 7 o'clock the night before.
He's been just drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes.
Oh, my God.
What a perfect Holiday Ann Express commercial that would be.
What if everybody in the village of Minerva is like that?
Like everybody.
They just yell at each other.
Chips on their shoulders.
There's something in the village water supply?
Yeah.
Paper or plastic.
Can I fill her up for you?
I have been a Republican and John's good.
I have been a Republican.
Albert Einstein issued one of my most favorite quotes in the history of the spoken word.
And it is as follows.
In the middle of opportunity.
Excuse me.
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
I'm going to repeat that so I have clarity tonight.
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
This is the opportunity we've been waiting for.
The Star County Treasurer's Office is a mask.
It is in dire needing of structure and guidance.
And now is the time to seize this opportunity with an aggressive campaign and an even more aggressive campaigner.
If nominated tonight, I promise each and every person in this room I will hit the ground.
Come out swinging and end up winning.
Drastic times require what?
Draft measures!
Yes!
Who said that?
Thank you!
Drastic times require drastic measures!
Investation!
We must win this election!
If nominated tonight, I will win this election!
And I'm going to say that again so there's no miscommunication tonight!
If nominated tonight, I win!
Tell your friends, tell your neighbors!
Tell me to consult us!
I'm coming!
If nominated tonight, I can guarantee with 100% certainty that what you are seeing from me tonight is what everyone outside those doors is going to get over the next eight weeks.
Government may be about service politics is about winning.
Somebody tonight is a candidate seeking the Republican nomination for the position of Star County Treasure.
I humbly ask for your vote as members of the Star County Republican Party Executive Committee.
Thank you.
Humbly, crazily, I crazily ask for your vote.
You know, he left me a voicemail.
Hello, Jimmy.
This is Phil Davison.
You may know me as a candidate for Stark County Treasurer.
And even though that campaign is over and someone else is now doing that job currently and at this time, I am still confident that I will win that election.
In the meantime, I am calling to enlist your help and your audience's help in a vitally important endeavor.
I am heading up a letter-writing campaign to bring the unfairly canceled According to Jim back to ABC's Tuesday night lineup.
If your audience wants to know why they should listen to me, they need only take a look at my educational background.
Not only do I have a bachelor's degree in sociology, a bachelor's degree in public administration, I also hold a master's degree in public speaking from Hulk Hogan University.
Together, we can make sure that According to Jim is restored to its rightful place on America's televisions.
Tell your friends, tell your neighbors, tell your friends, neighbors, and ask your neighbors to tell their friends and their neighbors.
Eight seasons was not enough.
Jimmy, please call me back at your earliest convenience.
All right, yeah, that's Bill Davidson.
You know, we're tight.
He's got a mission.
He's out there.
You know, part of me feels bad laughing at a guy who so obviously needs psychiatric care.
Yeah.
But the other part is it's so delicious.
It is.
It's so deliciously crazy.
Yeah, we can't, you know, we're not hurting him by laughing.
We're actually, we're making lemonade.
We're making lemonade.
Out of crazy.
And out of crazy.
And right now we're up against a heartbreak and we're going to see on the other side of the break.
You're listening to the Jimmy Dore Show on Pacifica.
I'm out.
Hi, this is Jimmy with a special message for my podcast listeners.
First of all, I appreciate the podcast listeners.
Our numbers are growing every day.
Thank you very much.
But here's a special and important thing you need to know.
We're going to be stopping our KPFK feed on the iTunes.
So we have a new feed down.
If you go on iTunes and you put in the Jimmy Dore show, you'll see the Jimmy Dore show come up with my picture on it.
And that's the one you need to subscribe to.
The Jimmy Doer show with my picture on it on iTunes.
And that will be the feed you need to be on.
So please go ahead, take a moment today.
Go to iTunes, put in the Jimmy Dore show, the one with my picture that comes up.
Subscribe to that one because that's going to be our new feed from now on.
Okay, thank you very much.
Thank you.
Hi, welcome back to the Jimmy Door Show.
We've got a lot of show coming up for you in the second half.
Moron calls in in our Tuesdays with Moron segment.
And we also have an interview with Alexander Zaitchik, the author of Common Nonsense, Glenn Beck, and the Triumph of Ignorance.
And if you are a fan of the Jimmy Door comedy, please stop by JimmyDoorComedy.com and sign my email list.
I'll let you know when I'm coming to your town.
For instance, I'm going to be in San Francisco, so all my peeps up in San Francisco.
Do people still say peeps?
I don't know.
October 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th.
I'm going to be at the Punchline in San Francisco, Punchline Comedy Club, October 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th.
So come see Jimmy Dore up there at the Punchline in San Francisco.
And also, I'm doing a new thing in Los Angeles at the Burbank Flappers, a brand new comedy club in Burbank on September 30th.
We're going to start a thing every Thursday, last Thursday of the month, every last Thursday of the month, the Jimmy Doer show comes to Flappers and does a political night of political stand-up comedy.
So the first Thursday is going to be September 30th at Flappers in Burbank.
So I hope to see you guys there.
Coming up right now is Jim Hydower, and he's talking about spreading weapons in the name of peace.
Hey, Bucko, stop whining about this sour economy and start thinking about the plight of others.
For example, arms dealers.
You've probably paid no attention to the hardened fact that the global recession caused worldwide arms sales to plummet by 8.5% last year, pinching the profits of U.S. weapons pushers.
The only saving grace in this downbeat news is that America's glorious arms industry did retain its position as the number one supplier of weapons to the world.
We still control nearly 40% of the global market, with Russia a distant second.
But before you set off a mess of fireworks in celebration, note that the U.S. sales in 2009 were down by more than $15 billion from the previous year.
On the upside, the developing world is still in a buying mood.
Last year, such emerging nations as Brazil, Venezuela, Iraq, India, And Vietnam poured billions into purchases of military playthings that go boom.
Again, U.S. dealers were the big winners, controlling a third of the arms trade in this robust market.
The greatest news for American purveyors of killing machines, however, is Iran.
This rising Mideast power has spooked the U.S. and Israel.
So, in the vague hope of countering Iran's growing punch, the White House and Congress are about to okay a blockbuster sale to the monarchial rulers of Saudi Arabia.
Some $90 billion worth of top-line fighter jets, helicopters, naval armaments, and other sophisticated war machinery would go to the Saudis.
The largest single sale of U.S. arms ever.
The theory is that somehow or other, maybe, possibly, sometime in the future, this escalation of military testosterone in the explosive Mideast might produce harmony.
This is Jim Hytaro saying, good luck with that.
But hey, if it jacks up profits for our arms dealers, what's not to like about it?
Okay, that was Jim Hightower.
Hey, Jim, thanks for bumming us out in a very nice voice again.
Brought to you by Raytheon.
We always, right now, let's get to our interview.
Alexander Zaitchik is the author of the new book, Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance.
His freelance journalism has appeared in The Nation, The New Republic, Salon, Wired, Huffington Post, and The Believer, among other publications.
He's also been the guest on Democracy Now, Uprising, Grit TV, and other progressive programs.
Alex lives in Brooklyn, and he joins us today from WBAI in New York.
Alex, how are you?
I'm good.
How are you guys doing?
Oh, we're doing fantastic.
Thanks for coming on the show.
I'm glad, you know, I've read a lot of your work already.
I read your article in Salon.
It was fantastic.
And I just want to read this from your book.
It starts off the book.
It's a quote from James Baldwin from Notes of a Native Son, and it starts like this: Sentimentality, the ostentatious parading of excessive and spurious emotion, is the mark of dishonesty.
The inability to feel.
The wet eyes of the sentimentalist betray his aversion to experience, his fear of life, his arid heart.
And it is always, therefore, the signal of secret and violent inhumanity.
The mask of cruelty.
Wow, that's pretty good stuff.
And I think that does kind of describe Glenn Beck, you know, his phony sentimentality, his parading of excessive and spurious emotion.
So now you know more about Glenn Beck than anybody.
Has he always been a crier?
Yeah, he started crying on air during his top 40 days.
It's not something that he started doing only on Fox, although that's when the country became most aware of it.
He's known in the 90s in New Haven, in the early 90s before he moved to talk radio.
He was known for crying on the air over local news stories, cutting to commercial, ordering a bacon and cheese, you know, drying up, going back on air and tearing up again.
So it's nothing new, although he definitely kicked it into overdrive after 9-11.
Now, I, you know, the crying and the, to me, I would sit there and watch him, and I was like, who can be, who could be taken in by this?
Who can't see through this stuff?
And then I go on Facebook and I see a lot of people I know who are taken in by this stuff.
Oh, God.
Yeah, and it makes you think to yourself, do you see a correlation between what he's doing and televangelism?
Yeah, I mean, that's clearly one of the traditions that he taps into and that makes up his appeal.
His audience is largely religious conservatives, the kind of people who showed up in Washington a few weeks ago.
So clearly he's using that established sort of messaging tradition, and he's combining it with other strains, sort of, you know, the conspiracizing that he uses.
A lot of what he does is very Mormon.
That's what's unique about his use of old, time-worn religious conservative tactics.
He's the first real Mormon to be successful at it.
And I think a lot of his fans don't realize how Mormon Beck is.
And I think as they become aware of it, it's going to cause more of a problem among his fan base as they start to get a little bit wary of his pushing of Mormon ideas under secular and other cloaks.
It's already causing splits among his base.
And a lot of what is weird about Glenn Beck that people don't understand becomes a lot more understandable when you realize that he adheres to an extremely apocalyptic strain of Mormonism.
A lot of the fear-mongering, a lot of the doomsday stuff is straight out of the right-wing Mormon playbook.
I think if you want to know how the Glenn Beck saga is going to end, rent the movie A Face in the Crowd.
Yes.
No, see, that's the thing.
How come this keeps happening in America?
Like he brought up the movie The Face in the Crowd, which is a great movie with Andy Griffith, which is basically exactly Glenn Beck, this guy who was homespun, charming, but underneath it all is he's kind of conniving.
Kind of.
Yeah, he's a complete tool of the corporation, and he has contempt for his audience, and he knows that they'll buy anything he says.
But he serves it up with an awesh kind of homespun.
I'm just a feller.
Good old boy.
But when the cameras are off, he's anything.
And in the movie, the way the guy gets found out is that somebody who knows that this guy's really a charlatan keeps his mic open when they're supposed to go, and then he says all this horrible stuff about his audience, and he's ruined.
Now, do you think Glenn Beck, I don't think Glenn Beck is as calculated as that character.
Do you?
Yes.
I think Glenn Beck believes himself.
Alexander, could I call you Alex or Alexander?
Alex is fine.
Okay, Alex, what do you think?
Do you think he's that calculating?
I think he has always cut the perfect profile of the classic reactionary.
I don't think he's faking these politics because they are so clearly driven by his spleen.
He is genuinely outraged that his tax dollars go to pay for poor people's and other social services that he doesn't need.
But he does.
Do you think he has a mental condition that lures him to believing that he is a victim?
He certainly displays characteristics of people who have paranoid delusions.
Absolutely.
You know, from thinking he's this sort of spiritual figure, you know, destined to lead America into the new dawn, to the idea that everyone's trying to kill him.
He's famously paranoid about his personal safety, although I might be a little bit too if I was him.
Yeah, I mean, the guy has psychological issues, but he also has, you know, very powerfully driven politics that I think are for the most part authentic, however much he hands it up.
I mean, people are often trying to put him in one basket because he uses entertainment techniques.
They say, oh, he's just an actor.
He's just a fraud.
He's a businessman.
But, I mean, Beck is all of these things, plus a genuinely, you know, he kills genuinely perverted politics.
And so, can you explain the phenomenon of him?
Because I saw him give this speech.
He gave the commencement address at Liberty University this year.
And so, and they gave him an honorary degree.
And now I realize that an honorary degree from Liberty University is just about as worthless as a regular degree from Liberty University.
But those people, they are at a college.
I'm guessing there's a library there and there are books.
So those people read and it doesn't take too much reading to see right through Glenn Beck.
So my point is, so now, is it just, is it cognitive dissonance?
Is it willful ignorance?
Are those the same thing?
Or what do you think is happening?
Because when I was sitting, I'm going now, well, look at this guy.
This guy is the head of this university.
He's obviously read books.
He obviously reads the newspaper.
He knows what Glenn's saying is wrong.
So how do you think they reconcile that?
Well, I mean, first thing is Liberty is less a college than a political operation the same way Fox is not quite a news organization, but a political operation.
So that's the first thing.
I mean, if you look in the bookshelves at Liberty University Library, you're going to see a lot of books proving creationism and things like this.
So I'd be careful about giving them too much credit, even though they are technically accredited as a university of higher learning.
But, you know, I mean, Beck's worldview fits with the Liberty worldview and the worldview of so many of his listeners and viewers.
It's one in which there are angels, people who have accepted Christ into their hearts and who are working towards basically making a more Christian nation versus the secular devils.
And Beck's whole map that he offers his audience basically keys right into that.
so they embrace him as one of their own.
He basically...
Just come in towards the bottom.
I have a question, Alex, which is, who figured out that he was going to be a marketable commodity?
Did someone figure out, like, oh, this is, we've got to package this.
This is lightning in a bottle.
People have thought Beck was the next big thing since he was in his early 20s.
That's nothing new.
In 1940 Morning Radio in the 80s, he was considered a very hot commodity.
He was making something like $300,000 when he was 23 years old in various markets, decent-sized markets like Houston and Phoenix.
So he was always considered a new young thing.
In talk radio, somebody saw something in him in the late 90s, and he was given a shot in Tampa, which was almost unheard of to go from a different format to a top 20 market like Tampa.
And then Clear Channel basically started thinking about syndicating him right around the time of the recount when he started to figure out talk radio and kind of get his chops down.
And his success was a series of pretty impressive promotions and advancements.
He went national within two years of starting his first talk show.
Does he have an outrage trainer or does he outrage himself?
I mean, obviously, he's faking it sometimes, but no, I think he enjoys giving vent to his rage.
Is there like an inner circle?
Does he take counsel from other people?
Counsel?
Well, he actually does it on his show.
It's this really weird sort of like public therapy.
I mean, he's had his shrink on his show.
He's had his weird Mormon buddies on his show that he sort of opens his heart to, and they tell him everything's going to be okay.
I mean, it's very public, his life.
I mean, the guy cannot be without the world attention on him for more than two minutes or he starts to break down.
Remember when he had his hemorrhoid operation, he filmed himself from his hospital bed.
He has six different camera angles on him at any given moment in his radio studio.
So, I mean, he, I think it's pretty much out there.
You know what?
You bring up when he had his hemorrhoid surgery and he talked into the camera from the hospital bed.
And people forget what he was talking.
What he was saying was how horrible our medical care system is.
The America is so horrible.
Our systems are screwed up.
That's what he was saying, right?
In essence, yeah.
Okay, and then about a year later, he's talking about he is then going, we have the best health care system in the world, correct?
Yeah.
And so now, my question would be: if you are a fan of Glenn Beck, you saw both those things.
How do they reconcile that?
Well, if you are looking for consistency in anything Glenn Beck does from one day to the next, you know, you're going to get frustrated pretty quick.
But his fans clearly were willing to give him a pass, not just with consistency, but authenticity and modus and just about everything else.
So, I mean.
Do you think that his fan?
Do you think his fans, Alex, do you think his fans give him a pass because they think that, like, for instance, what he's doing is the exact same thing Keith Olbermann does, but he's doing it.
I think they think he's more authentic than that.
I mean, they think Keith Oberman's a big fake and a phony, but they love Beck dearly.
I mean, you go to these tea parties and they're ready to marry off their first daughters to Glenn Beck's sons.
They love this guy.
They think he's a martyr.
They think he's putting his life on their lines to bring the truth to them.
They think he's the only guy out there who's really saying it like it is.
I mean, it's hard to really overstate the way in which he's convinced them and spoken to them at some of the subrational, emotional level and connected to them.
It's really a lot.
It's not logical.
If you're trying to think in terms of logic, you're missing what he's accomplished with his fan.
But that's why, like, isn't it true?
Like, that's part of why he's so a dangerous guy is because you can't, like, what would he have to do to fall from grace?
Right.
You know what I mean?
Like, if hypocrisy isn't going to bring him down, if lying isn't going to bring him down, like, what would he have to do?
It seems like people that are in this kind of position, you know, like pastors at mega churches and that kind of thing, the only thing you can do to really lose your following is turn out to be gay.
Like, other than that, is there anything else that he could do or say that people would turn on him?
Maybe, you know, you mentioned Face in the Crowd, maybe a Lonesome Road situation.
But, you know, it's weird in that Forbes article from earlier this year that cataclogged his catalogues as well.
He actually said, I'm an entertainment company.
I don't care about the political process.
And he actually put that on his own website, gearing his fans towards it because he was so proud of how much money he was making.
And none of them seemed to even notice the fact that whether it was taken out of context, who knows?
But that line where he basically said he was playing these people for fools and he was making up the whole political commitment side of his shtick.
So if people didn't even blink at that comment, it's hard to imagine what it would take other than him getting caught on tape with a 12-year-old boy.
What would be the best wood to drive through his heart?
Mormonism.
Mormonism.
We're talking with Alexander Zaitchik, the author of the new book, Common Nonsense, Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance, published by John Wiley and Sons.
And John Wiley owns a great comedy club in Dayton, Ohio, by the way.
When he's not publishing?
Now, Glenn Beck said this famously.
Let me be real honest with you.
And I don't think anybody on talk radio, I don't think anybody in their right mind is going to ever say this out loud.
But I wonder if I'm the only one that feels this way.
You know, it took me about a year to start hating the 9-11 victims' families.
Took me about a year.
And I had such compassion for them, and I really, you know, I wanted to help them, and I was behind, you know, let's give them money, let's get started, you know, all of this stuff.
And I really didn't, you know, all the 3,000 victims' families, I don't hate all of them.
I hate about probably about 10 of them.
But when I see, you know, 9-11 victim family, you know, on television or whatever, I'm just like, oh, shut up.
I'm so sick of them.
Okay, so that's enough of that.
Imagine how sick We are of you.
So, how does his audience go?
I guess I keep asking the same question of you, Alex, and I guess I'm going to apologize for it.
I just don't know how he can say these things.
It's out there.
And then his.
Like, you follow him a little bit closer, obviously, closer than I did.
How did he explain that away to his fans?
Well, he wasn't the only one doing it.
That was actually a conservative talking point at the time.
Bill O'Reilly, Rush Lumbo, they were all going after the liberal 9-11 family.
Any of them who were, you know, at variance with the Bush policy at the time, they were casted as non-patriotic, you know, as sort of fake, you know, 9-11 family not deserving of sympathy.
And at the time, you have to understand that Beck was the most passionate Bush booster around.
Oh, okay.
When he likes to talk about how he's independent, always have.
Yeah, he was always pushing the bush line as hard as he could.
And that was part of that.
Alexander Zaitchik, the author of The Common Nonsense, Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance.
I'd love to have you back on if you're ever available.
We do this show on the show.
Yeah, because this obviously isn't enough time for us to talk.
There's so much more to talk about.
Maybe I could ask you a different question next time.
But thank you for coming on our show.
And I urge my listeners to go out and get your book, Common Nonsense.
And your article in Salon was fantastic, and I look forward to more stuff from you and to talking to you again, Alex.
Thanks for being on our show.
It was a pleasure.
Okay, bye-bye.
Take care.
Hey, you know, I was checking my voicemails during the break, and hello, Jimmy.
This is Phil Davison again.
I wanted to share with you one of my most favorite quotes in the history of the spoken word.
It was issued by Albert Einstein.
And I will call you later and say it as soon as I remember what it is.
Something about zebras.
Or maybe it was train travel.
The main reason I'm calling is that I want you to lay off Kyle Sease.
He helped me conquer the stage.
And I'm sick of you bad-mouthing him all the time.
I just don't get why people like you spend so much time tearing down something positive.
Politics is not touch football.
Politics is winner-take-all.
It always has been, and it always will be.
I repeat, winner-take-all.
Unlike football, where there are often multiple winners at the end.
Oh, I wish you could see the gestures I am making with my hands.
I am holding up fingers whenever I say a number and gesticulating wildly when no number is being said by me.
Call me back right away, Jimmy.
I look forward to speaking to you once my throat stops bleeding.
And Phil Davis, he leaves a lot of message.
I like that guy.
Ah, yeah, he's chatty.
Yeah, he's got a lot to say.
He's got a lot to say, but.
Oh, you know what?
I got to take this, you guys.
Hold on.
Let me take this.
Hey, it's Jimmy.
Who's this?
Hey, Jimmy, how are you doing?
It's Moron.
Hey, Moron, how's it going today, buddy?
Ah, Jimmy, you know me.
I'm a good American.
I like to vote against my own economic interest.
And while I have a lot of legitimate anger at the government, it's often aimed at the wrong people.
But I do find comfort in the fact that my Lord Jesus the Christ hates exactly the same people that I do.
So what's on your mind today, buddy?
Hey, did you see that super hot, sexy raw sports reporter lady who was in the men's locker room there and then she got sexually harassed?
Yes, I did.
I don't think women should be in the locker room in the first place, Jim.
No, really?
Why?
You know, Charisse went into a live men's locker room one time.
Oh, how'd that turn out?
Not good.
They hit her in the head with a beer bottle?
Really?
Wow.
Anyway, what the hell is she doing in there in the first place?
Well, because she's a reporter, I guess.
I mean, for crime.
What?
You get all dressed up like a sexy chick like that, and then you expect to get into a locker room where guys are behaving with perfect manners.
Well, I don't know about Prince.
Hey, I'm not.
That's what they call incongruent thinking.
Nice word.
But you probably don't agree with me, Jim, because you're a liberal.
What's that?
What do you mean by that?
What, if I'm not down with sexually harassing women, I'm not a man?
Jim, she calls herself the hottest sports reporter in Mexico.
Doesn't that seem pretty weird to call yourself that, but then get embarrassed when football players, all soaked up, scantily clad men in towels, celebrating their win, hitting each other's buttocks with twirled up towels and whatnot.
She gets offended when they whistle at her.
Come on.
Well, Moron, I mean, I guess I see your point, but I don't know exactly what happened.
I just think we should all learn from this situation.
We should learn.
What should we learn?
Don't be a hater, be a player.
What does that even mean?
Hey, ever since that Delaware primary, things have really been looking up, huh?
Oh, you like that Christine O'Donnell, do you, buddy?
Yeah, I like that girl a lot.
I like her a lot.
What is it about?
I mean, her policies appealed to you.
What is it?
no, uh, nothing, but, uh, you know, she's got that Sally Field thing going for her.
She looks really, You know, she's cute and stuff.
Moron, she's running for Senate.
I don't know if QT has should have anything to do with it.
Plus, Keith Oblerman hates it.
And that makes me like her a little bit more.
Moron, it doesn't bother you that she doesn't have any experience doing anything.
And from everything we can tell, her life has really kind of been a wreck.
Yeah, well, she might not know anything you need to know about anything, but she guarantees that she'll vote no.
And, you know, I like that.
You're fine with her not knowing exactly what she's voting on?
Yeah, just as long as she votes no.
No unspending, no more bailouts, no on high taxes.
No, no, no, no, no.
Don't you want to know something more about her, really, Moron?
Oh, sure.
I'd like to know more about her, but unfortunately, she's only doing local media in Delaware.
Well, how do you know she's only doing local media, moron?
Oh, I heard it on the Sean Annity show.
Well, if she's only doing local media, that's correct.
Only local media.
Well, then, how did you hear about it?
Because she said so on the Sean Hannity show.
Goes all across the country, Jim.
Well, that means she's doing national media then.
Let me tell you something.
She's got my vote, you know.
We're not trying to take our country back.
We are the country.
Yeah, but Moron, there are so many skeletons in her closet.
Do you really think she can get elected?
Yeah, and Sean Hannity says that all the negative stuff liberals like you are saying is gonna boomerang in O'Donnell's favor, and then the Republicans will take over Congress, and then everyone will be sorry.
You just wait.
Oh, we'll be sorry.
Sean's advice to her is to stay on offense and don't do national media.
It doesn't offend your Christian sensibilities that she was a witch.
Hey, Jim, what's more worse?
A Marxist raising your taxes, Or a chick who used to dabble in magic.
I'll say it's a false choice.
Plus, that was way back in the 80s.
Who doesn't regret this stuff they did in the 80s?
Yeah, I guess you get a point.
I know I regret taking PCP and acid and going to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
You did that, buddy?
It was the 80s, Jim.
It was a crazy time.
So, all in all, you're going to vote for her.
Hey, we don't want your Obamacare and your government socialism communist stuff.
We want free market and small government.
You know, I know you really believe that.
And we're tired of Obama's taking our tax dollars from the white guy and giving it to the blacks like Acorn.
Really?
You're still upset about Acorn?
My new bumper sticker says, Need a job via Pelosi.
See, you think she's responsible for the unemployment.
Yeah, I did see the 60 Minutes last year.
Did you see that thing with the hot Leslie Stahl?
Hot Leslie?
Leslie Stahl?
Yeah.
Yeah, I know Leslie Star.
She's a Gilf, huh?
What's a Gilf, buddy?
That stands for Grandmother.
I'd like to see that.
Okay, I get it.
Okay, thanks, buddy.
Hey, Jim, reality check.
Jimmy Connor was not a successful president, right?
Well, conventional wisdom says he wasn't.
I mean, that guy was complete horse.
Am I right?
Well, that's what I always thought too, Moron.
But according to your Gilf friend, Leslie Stahl, he had a lot of accomplishments.
In fact, he was one of the most successful presidents in our history.
What does that tell you?
And it tells me that Leslie Stahl, while being very attractive for her age, is full of sh.
I can see how you could think that.
Although I do like how her hair sticks up.
Did you see that?
No, I didn't.
Oh, my gosh, Jimmy.
Did you see how they made such a big deal of the Obama and his family going to church?
Yeah, well, I think they made a big deal out of it because everyone thinks he's a Muslim.
And he's not.
Well, do you see what I'm saying?
This is why he has to make a big deal out of going to church.
Because he's Muslim?
No, because he's not Muslim.
But people have been misled to think he is because people in America are prejudiced towards Muslims.
Well, it could be cleared up if he would just go to church.
Well, that's what he was doing, Moron.
Yeah, well, why do they gotta make such a show out of it?
That's what I'm saying.
You know, Maura, I'm starting to feel like you're talking in circles.
It's a Mr. Steamy, Therese.
What the hell is that, Mr. Steamy?
Mr. Steamy puts the steam technology in your dryer.
You want me to let you go, moron?
Okay, okay.
I'm thinking this doesn't make any sense.
No, it turns your dryer into a wrinkle-releasing machine.
See?
Soft, wrinkle-free clothes without an iron or dryer sheets.
It's great.
I'll let you go.
No, why don't you just put the water in here, and then you put it in your dryer.
Okay.
And then it works like that.
I mean, you wouldn't iron your clothes with the dryer.
And you wouldn't dry your clothes with an iron.
Okay, Jim, I gotta go.
Okay, Moron, I'll let you go.
Bye-bye.
Okay, that was Moron.
Thanks for calling in, buddy.
I really appreciate it.
You know what?
I don't know if I told you guys, but Phil Davison left me another voice, another one.
Hello, Jimmy.
It's me, Moron.
No, just kidding.
It's Phil Davison calling you again.
I just love that bit.
Jimmy, you may be surprised that I am such a big fan of a left-winger like you.
But it's true.
I am a fan, even though I have been a Republican in times good and a Republican in times bad.
Because I like things that are funny.
And Jimmy, funny times call for what?
For funny measures.
Thank you.
Who said that?
Oh, it was me.
Please excuse that long pause.
I was pacing furiously back and forth in my dining room.
Anyway, Jimmy, I am calling to find out if you would like to have lunch with me at the new Panera Bread, which is opening here in Stark County on October 10th, October 2010.
This is the opportunity we have been waiting for.
I have my eye on the turkey artichoke Panini.
And I would consider it an honor to treat you to a bowl of low-fat, vegetarian black bean soup.
Knowledge is power, Jimmy.
And so is power.
Call me back.
Together, we all hit the ground running.
Come out swinging and sit down for eating.
I just got crazy lightheaded!
I got...
Jimmy Con...
*BEEP*
Oh, boy, that was hot.
That's Ben Zelavanski, ladies and gentlemen.
Very nice.
Ben Zelvin playing the Phil.
What's his name?
Phil Davison?
Wait, that wasn't really him?
That wasn't really him.
That was a guy named Ben Zelavanski.
I want to thank everybody who helped me with the show today.
I want to thank my producers, Ali Alexa, and writers Robert Yasamura, Paul Gilmartin, Ben Zalavansky, Stan Stankos, and Steph Zamorano.
I want to remind you to stop by JimmyDoorComedy.com.
You sign the email list.
Now, how do you spell Jimmy Door?
D-O-R-E.
If you Google Jimmy D-Double-O-R, the passenger side door for a GMC Jimmy comes up, and you don't want that.
So, Jimmy Door Comedy, you sign the email list.
And if you like listening to me talk, I have another show called Comedy and Everything Else.
It's a podcast where I interview all of today's top comics.
Norm McDonald, Janine Garoppolo, Bill Burr, Paul Gilmartin.
Everybody's been on that show.
So AcomedyandEverything Else.net is my podcast.
Check that out.
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